The Purdue University Center for Career Opportunities
(CCO) will provide effective employment support and outstanding
career development services that positively influence life-long
career transitions among Purdue University students and graduates.
The Center will be globally recognized as a leader among career
centers.

Highlights

From July 2003 through April 2004, the estimated number of
student contacts with the
Center for Career Opportunities through group seminars, interviews
with prospective employers, individual appointments and events
hosted by the CCO is 33,382. In addition,
a total of 7,411,750 hits on the www.cco.purdue.edu Web site
were recorded from July 2003 to February 2004.

Indicative of the
continued economic uncertainty and its impact on the job
market for new graduates, the number of employer interviews
hosted by the Center for Career Opportunities held steady from
11,271 in 2002-2003 to 11,278 in 2003-2004. The number of employer
organizations interviewing at the CCO rose over 20% from
451 to 545 organizations. Each organization is counted once
even if the organization made several interview visits. As
compared to recent years, the companies have fewer positions
to offer and have become more selective in their hiring
process. This is reflected in the drop in average number of
interviews per visiting company from 25 in 2002-2003 to 20.7
in 2003-2004.

The Center for Career Opportunities received the
NACE 2004 Excellence Award in the category of Educational
Programming-College for its "Navigating College Career Services:
New Employer Development Deliverables" entry. The Navigating
College Career Servicesin Indiana publication was created
and designed by CCO staff members to effectively promote colleges
and universities to prospective employers that have not historically
sourced candidates through college and university career services
offices in Indiana. This is the second prestigious national
award in three years that the Center for Career Opportunities
has received.

To better address the employment needs of students
in a weak labor market and to
anticipate projected second quarter hiring activities in the
late Spring, the CCO hosted its
first "Just-in-time" Job Fair in late April. Additionally, the Summer
Camp and Recreation
Job Fair was hosted for the first time by the CCO to provide students an opportunity
to
connect with prospective summer employers.

Among the new outreach programs offered by the CCO were those
addressing specific
student populations including graduate students and International
students. In collaboration with International Students and Scholars,
the CCO hosted two "International student employment in
the US" sessions—one for advisors and the other targeting
International students.